The Watching Computer
by Mathelete
Summary: Various computers around the world start displaying messages. These messages are directed at the person using the computer, usually informing him/her about his/her surroundings. How does a computer know what is happening in the physical world around the user? More importantly, how does it even display a message as if it was an AI? This is a mystery for the Doctor to solve!
1. Look behind you

Chapter 1: Look behind you

It was April 1st, 2014. A teenager by the name Mark Miller sat on his computer. He lived in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was just browsing Youtube until a window popped up. Now this was strange. He had a pop-up blocker as well as Google Chrome's ad-block. So how did this pop-up get through those defenses? The window displayed a simple message: "Look behind you."

"Ok, so one of my friends is trying to pull an April Fools joke on me. Somehow, they managed to get this window to pop up on my computer. NOT FUNNY!" he remarked.

But then he heard a creaking. He quickly turned around. His entire bookshelf was ready to fall over. He ran and pushed his body against it, and with a lot of effort from his muscles, he managed to set it straight.

He said out loud, "Thank you computer! You saved my life!"

(This is where the Doctor Who opening credits come in…)

The Doctor is in the Tardis, which is parked a kilometer from Mark's house. He steps outside to see a computer in a trash can. Surprisingly, it boots up by itself. The Doctor notices that it is not plugged into anything, but it is still able to run DOS mode. Now DOS mode is a command-line interface, so it is just a system where the user can type in their input with a keyboard, and they receive an output in the form of text. No pictures, no GUI. The Doctor commented, "Now that is lovely. It may not be able to boot up GUI, but it booted up nonetheless." Much to the Doctor's surprise, the screen already showed text forming, as if somebody invisible was typing. The Doctor noticed the letters appear one by one, until they showed a clear message. It looked like this:

C: LOVE THE BOWTIE

Suddenly, more lines formed by themselves

C: LOVE THE STETSON TOO

C: AND THAT SONIC SCREWDRIVER IS FANTASTIC

The Doctor spoke to the computer as if it was living, "I am glad you love this stuff. So what do you do, just lie in this trash can and talk via text?"

A strange man, in his fifties, walked up to the Doctor. He just arrived at the scene, so the only thing he saw was the Doctor respond to the computer. The computer immediately shut itself off when the man was about to look at it. From the man's perspective, that computer was and would always be broken. So he looked at the Doctor, but from behind, so he could not see the Doctor's face. He remarked, "Having fun talking to trash? Oh, I know that they call it, they call it trash-talking!" He then chuckled.

The Doctor turned around. He responded to the strange man, "That thing turned itself on and talked to me through CLI." The Doctor was expecting the man to just laugh at the Doctor's "insanity", but instead, the strange man suddenly changed his expression. He replied, "In that case, we have something interesting in here. My name is User 507. You're the Doctor, aren't you? The man who saves us from Cybermen, Daleks, and more."

The Doctor realized that this man knew about him, and he felt both pleased and worried at the same time. He then asked, "User 507? Why won't you tell me your real name?" User 507 responded, "And you? Don't act like you have been telling your name to everyone!" The Doctor remarked, "Good point. I guess we can begin by taking this computer back into my Tardis." User 507 then helped the Doctor lift it and move it in the Tardis.

The person who tossed that computer away in the first place was living in the building whose garden had the Tardis parked in. He had a new computer, a Mac, which he claimed to be better than Windows. His computer popped up a message: "There is somebody behind you."

"Ok, I know it is April 1st, but this is just ridiculous! All my friends, starting with Mark, have had this happen! I bet it is just coincidence, there could not be anything behind me!" shouted the user.

This was quite a mistake, because all of his friends have had messages like "Look behind you" or "Look to your left" or even "There is something on your arm"

So the user chose to ignore that warning. "I don't have anything that could fall on me from behind, and I doubt a spider is sneaking up on me, since no spiders ever come to my room. I bet the person who sent Mark the message also tried to make the bookshelf collapse just to scare him. News flash, prankster! There is a difference between April Fools and Halloween!"

And with that, he failed to spot the danger behind him. In a sudden flash, he found himself caught in the grasp of a burglar. The message changed: "I told you. You could have began running, but you thought I was just a joke." Luckily for the user, the burglar saw both messages and got scared, thinking that the computer was an artificial intelligence construct.

The basic idea was that there were messages popping up on computers, and they spoke of the physical world around the user. Some were convinced, while others thought that it was a joke. But the Doctor had plugged the "broken" computer into the Tardis. It finally ran in GUI mode. It suddenly started loading a Visual Basic file. User 507 remarked, "Oh, that is the Visual Basic programming language. I can take a look at that. Oh boy, what do we have here? This seems like an unreleased version of VB! Are you thinking what I am thinking?"

The Doctor responded, "You are saying that it came from the future?" User 507 smiled. For a moment, the Doctor felt like he was talking to his older self. And with that, the Tardis took off and headed for a time period 4 years in the past. "Past?" asked the Doctor. User 507 replied, "I don't know why, but the program seems to indicate that it originated from the future, but the answer lies in the past."

When the Tardis landed, it was April 4, 2010. Easter Day! The Tardis landed in Allentown, Pennsylvania. User 507 quickly shouted, "Oh no no, I might accidentally cross my own timestream! Find another city! Why did the Tardis even choose this city? Forget why it choose this city, how about Los Angeles?" The Doctor did exactly that, and when the Tardis landed, the Doctor stepped outside, ready for a new adventure with a new companion!


	2. An Easter surprise

Chapter 2: An Easter surprise

Los Angeles was home to a new company that made special eggs. They claimed that their "Easter surprise" would fix any issues with the human body. Their advertising was not false. Not by any means. Many people used those special eggs in their food and found out that all ailments were gone. This new brand of "Easter eggs" was very popular, especially among the sick or wounded.

On the other hand, doctors and medical students were very suspicious about the idea of a food item being able to heal almost anything. Many of these doctors went undercover in an attempt to find out the secret to this miracle cure. Specifically, there was a team of doctors who chose to undertake a mission that UNIT had requested. None of these doctors were actually a part of UNIT, but they were ready for undercover work. This team consisted of Grace Holloway, Martha Jones, and Thomas Milligan.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and User 507 did their own investigation, and even took a group of eggs back to the TARDIS. Scans indicated advanced life forms inside the eggs. Using his sonic screwdriver, he traced the source of the eggs to the secret company known as "Egg Static." User 507 remarked, "No…Egg Static? Can't be…that is not a company…that was a secret code used by my archenemy!" The Doctor was confused, replying, "You have an archenemy? Regardless, the name 'Egg Static' is a nice play on words, and I am not surprised that more than one person would be using it. I doubt your archenemy has anything to do with this in the first place. On the other hand, the technology that could heal almost anything did not come about until the 51st century, so I have a feeling that the mastermind behind this did some time traveling. I think this mastermind is actually a friend of mine. Perhaps he can tell us what this Easter surprise has to do with the 'watching computers'."

This friend that the Doctor was referring to happened to be none other than the handsome Captain Jack Harkness. When he saw the Doctor arrive with a new companion, he was quite ecstatic. He was so happy that he even shared a kiss with the Doctor!

(the fourth wall opens up, taking a break from the story)

A bunch of John Barrowman and Matt Smith fans start screaming.

(fourth wall closes, now back to the story)

The Doctor asks, "Say, Jack, have you inserted any nanogenes into food?" Jack new what the Doctor was on to. He replied, "Why yes! Egg Static is actually owned by Torchwood! We actually got the name 'Egg Static' from a rabbit-like creature who gave us this idea." The Doctor replied, "Well, we have a seemingly unrelated dilemma. In 2014, a bunch of computers start to gain the ability to see the physical world, and they display messages on their own. Some form of artificial intelligence, but one of them directed us to Easter 2010. My companion, User 507, just chose Los Angeles randomly. After that, we came to Cardiff so we could ask you questions." User 507 interrupted, "Now what exactly are nanogenes?" Jack replied, "They are microscopic organisms that can repair the body."

User 507 suddenly had a brilliant idea. "So that is why my instinct told me to go to LA! It makes sense! Those nanogenes could have evolved into cybernanogenes, thus controlling all computers! But tell me, who is this rabbit-like creature?" Jack responded, "Well, you see, he calls himself Bunny 507. He is a human-sized rabbit." User 507 was suddenly worried. He remarked, "The reason he calls himself Bunny 507 is because we have both accepted that we are archenemies. He got the number 507 from me! But he could not be up to any good. Trust me, these nanogenes are doing a good job protecting people, but I think he has something planned, and I don't want to see his plans in action."

Then he told the Doctor, "Come on, we are going to Allentown. But in 2014. We will head to my base, which can be accessed through room 507 of the school that I teach in." The Doctor replied, "Now hang on, I think we should also take Jack. We could really use his help." Jack jumped up, and got himself ready to travel with the Doctor again. With Jack and User 507 on board, the Tardis took off.

The Doctor thought to himself, "We are probably in danger, but it is so nice to have a companion again! Ever since Oswin stopped traveling with me, I thought I would be alone." Little did the Doctor know that he was going to be far from alone…


	3. Back to high school

Chapter 3: Back to high school

"So THAT is why you call yourself user 507," remarked the Doctor as the Tardis landed in Allentown. "So where is this school?" User 507 responded, "It is in the neighboring city of Bethlehem." Jack remarked, "Well, this is surprising. So we are relying on a school teacher to save the day." User 507 exclaimed, "Not just save the day! Once I find that Bunny, I am going to open a can on him!"

The three settled in room 507 of the high school that User 507 spoke of. User 507 booted up everything, as if he was ready to turn the room into a powerhouse. However, every computer displayed the same message at startup: "I am about to kill the power. Don't worry, the nanogenes will keep the equipment online." The Doctor remarked, "It is safe to assume that the nanogenes will use their own network, and that if we kept our power on, we would be detected." Jack added on, "So that means somebody is already after us."

After some intense hacking, User 507 reached a roadblock. Then he asked the Doctor, "Could you use your sonic screwdriver to allow me to access servers from the future?" The Doctor did exactly that. The investigation stage was complete, and the answer was the 51st century. Jack was horrified when he read the conclusion: by the 51st century, Bunny 507 would run Torchwood!

Jack decided to establish a connection to present-day Torchwood so that Gwen Cooper could see what was happening. She copied over User 507's connection to 51st century Torchwood, and she used that connection to access the future of Torchwood, allowing her to download files from the 51st century. Bunny 507 had a clear plan: the more users took advantage of the helpful messages, the more the nanogenes would take over their minds! There would be a point at which those nanogenes would be able to establish a mind-control, making the users to whatever the Bunny wanted.

The Doctor ran off to his Tardis and landed it around room 507. This enabled all the equipment and connections to hook up to the Tardis. He then said, "User 507, keep all this stuff online. I am about to use it to create a time warp."

The Doctor landed the Tardis in the 51st century, but the equipment still had a link to the present day. Suddenly, a rift appeared in room 507, powered by User 507's equipment. That rift allowed easy travel between the 51st century and the present day.

Jack asked the Doctor, "Why do we need a rift?" The Doctor replied, "It might sound crazy, but I think that if we create a paradox that cancels out the cybernanogenes' existence, we will put an end to Bunny 507's plans!" User 507 asked, "Now how exactly do we do that?" The Doctor replied, "With the trashed computer! Can you edit this VB program so that it makes the present-day nanogenes travel through the server's connection and hack into the 51st century computers? Then we can watch as the good nanogenes fight their future self. If they lose, it would be a paradox. And if they win, then good!"

Meanwhile, the team of undercover doctors discovered a giant transmitter. They asked for an engineer from UNIT to investigate it. The engineer determined that it would take 3000 years for the whole contraption to power up.

Meanwhile, Bunny 507 catches the Doctor trying to foil his plans. Bunny 507 laughs, "You think you can make the nanogenes fight their past selves? News flash, there is a transmitter that will convert all cybernanogenes into evil mind-controllers! So you plan just backfired!" The Doctor then apologized to both User 507 and Jack, "I'm sorry. I think I just made things worse. Because of that transmitter, we are doomed."

Little did the Doctor know that he had 4 additional companions helping him without even knowing that they were helping him. The engineer said, "I cannot find a way to take this down. It seems like it has every sort of defense. Hang on, I have heard legends of a box called the Pandorica. I think this transmitter is that same box, but with the parts put together in a new arrangement! That is why we cannot destroy it! It has the same shielding as the Pandorica!"

Tom was not ready to give up. He asked, "Can't we at least disable it?" Grace looked into a tiny opening and noticed organic matter. She concluded that there was a human heart in there, and it was going to start beating in order to pump energy into the transmitter. Martha replied, "That is so disgusting! Who would even think of such a thing? I feel bad for whoever this person was who got put in here. Hang on, there is no indication of a brain! We would have detected at least a tiny brain wave, even if the person is dead! So whoever this person was, he got his brain pulled out!" Tom said, "Well, that would not be the first time I have heard of somebody's brain being pulled out. Remember when people had their brains put in a metal suit?" Martha replied, "Don't remind me of the cybermen. Right now, we need to find a way to stop this."

Grace came up with a brilliant idea. "What if we use this power for our own use? We put a contraption on here that will harness the energy, so that when the heart begins beating, instead of powering up the transmitter, it will power up something else?" Martha asked, "Well, do you have any idea of what we are going to attach?"

The engineer said, "Well, anything that involves space-time travel would automatically suck in all the energy." Tom suddenly realized that he was carrying a time vortex manipulator that was not working. He had found it on the ground, and recognized it as one of Torchwood's contraptions. Tom gave it to the engineer, to attached it to the transmitter.

"Well, our work here is done. Hopefully, this works," said Martha. Then she whispered to herself, "And if this alone does not do the trick, hopefully HE will be around to figure something out." The team left the area. 3000 years later, the heart started generating energy to power the transmitter. However, the broken time vortex manipulator absorbed it all, and in the process, it also started working again. The last person who tried to use it wanted to travel to the planet Mondas. So the entire transmitter disappeared, and it ended up on Mondas. The remaining energy managed to power the transmitter, but it was useless, since it was out of range.

Back at room 507, the Bunny detected that his nanogenes were lowering in number. He was unable to detect any transmission from the transmitter, and realizing that his plan had failed, he retreated. The Doctor asked User 507 to shut down the equipment, causing the rift to disappear. The Tardis landed back in the present, and the Doctor arrived in room 507, announcing that somehow, the transmitter failed. User 507 replied, "Unfortunately, that mastermind got away! Oh well, he better not come back, or he will be in a world of hurt."


	4. A new companion

Chapter 4: A new companion

"Travel with me," the Doctor requested to User 507. The reply he got was, "It is tempting, but I have classes to teach. It was nice helping you, though. I am sure we will see each other again in the future." Suddenly, Jack told the Doctor, "Gwen has informed me that after what happened, Torchwood has decided to go on a break for some time. I guess that means I will get bored until it reopens. But I will not be bored if I can have the whole of space and time. So…"

The Doctor rejoiced, "Yes! By all means, you can travel with me!" User 507 asked, "One more question. How did those nanogenes evolve into cybernanogenes?" Jack was also confused about that. The Doctor replied, "We may never know. At least it does not matter anymore." Jack said, "It is still an interesting question. Nanogenes are not supposed to be compatible with computers. There must have been a process." The Doctor remarked, "Oh well."

The Doctor then made one last trip, all the way back to the trash can which he began at. He put the computer back where it was. After the Doctor and Jack left in the Tardis for their adventures, the computer rebooted up, despite the fact that all the other computers were back to normal. The computer's CLI started showing a message. Unfortunately, the Doctor was not there to read it. The message was unlike what most of the messages used to be. This message read:

**BAD WOLF**


End file.
